Hi guys, in this thread I am posting some card ideas that seek to fix some minor bugs about mtg that have bugged me for a while.
Green anti-air
Firstly, there is the issue of green anti-air spells like Plummet and Whirlwind. Personally, I really don't like how they become dead cards if the opponent doesn't have a significant number of flying creatures. Whenever I see a green anti-air spell, it's always "okay, I won't main board this thing unless I'm in a standard environment where flyers have somewhat become staples" (which means basically never). Here is my solution:
Spirit Arrow1G
Sorcery
Choose a creature you control. It deals damage to any target equal to its power. If the target is a creature with flying, this effect deals twice the amount of damage.
I think WotC have recently been allowing green to deal direct damage if the effect is reliant on creatures. The core idea here is that we will strap an anti-creature effect with a clause that makes it super effective against flyers, such that the card is still useful even if the opponent doesn't have a significant number of flyers. I definitely think Spirit Arrow is something I will mainboard.
Non-green Naturalize
As far as I can tell, Naturalize is close to a staple card in green decks when it comes to dealing with enchantments and artifacts. I am hoping to get cards that deal with enchantment and artifacts in colors other than green, but of course they won't be spot removals like Naturalize:
Disenchanter's Ring1W
Enchantment
When this~ enters the battlefield, exile target enchantment or artifact until it leaves the battlefield.
AetherchokeU
Instant
Put target enchantment or artifact on top of its owner's library.
Surging Greed2B
Sorcery
Target opponent discards two cards. If no enchantment or artifact card is discarded this way, that player lose 4 life.
or
Voracious EdictB
Sorcery
Choose enchantment or artifact. Target opponent sacrifices a permanent of the chosen type.
Burning Aether2R
Sorcery
Each enchantment and artifact deals damage to its controller equal to its converted mana cost unless its controller sacrifices it.
Currently, green doesn't deal direct damage to players nor planeswalkers. I could easily see Spirit Arrow as:
Choose one:
Target creature deals damage to target creature equal to its power.
Target creature deals damage to target flying creature equal to double its power.
I like the idea of a spell like this.
Disenchanter's Ring is totally fine. Aetherchoke would be fine, but not at this rate. Burning Aether could also be too cheap for its effect. I don't like Surging Greed. Colorpiewise it's okay, but it feels wrong to make such a card, as it PROMOTES playing artifacts and enchantments (If I play more of them, and I get targeted by this spell, maybe I won't have to lose life!). It's better against a deck that doesn't have artifact or enchantments. Voracious Edict is just a color pie break, so you'd probably need to find something else for Black.
You have to be careful when trying to make mainboard-playable versions of typically sideboard effects. If a hate effect is too universally playable, the thing it hates on could easily be made unplayable as a result. The whole point of sideboards is to allow you to run narrower effects without causing this sort of problem.
Using flying hate as an example, a few things could happen if it's too mainboard-playable: fliers that don't grant immediate value, have spot removal protection, or death triggers that make them worth it could be pushed out of the format entirely; green might not need to splash into other colors, giving it an inherent boost over other colors like red, black, or white, which would normally supply the spot removal.
I think that a better alternative would be to give sideboard options like Plummet variants a little extra versatility. Nothing that would make it mainboard-playable, but something like cycling that lets you get value from it if it would otherwise be a dead card after sideboarding.
For formats that don't have sideboards, like Arena quickplay, I could see a rule that allows you to pick a number of cards in your deck (say, 10), and add Cycling 2 to them for the duration of the game. In a digital medium, it's perfectly doable, and it allows you to play more niche effects without being punished too hard for a bad matchup.
Disenchanter's ring -- weaker than disenchant, and I think disenchant is hardly playable as it is.
Surging Greed is ovepowered in the extreme, Compare to mind rot. IT isn't anti enchantment/artifact, either, because it makes WANT to play enchantments and artifacts.
Voracious edict and byrning Aether are color pie breaks.
Burning Aether is not a break. Compare Enchanter's Bane. You could maybe argue for its rate and explosiveness being a break, like Swords to Plowshares may be called a break.
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Green anti-air
Firstly, there is the issue of green anti-air spells like Plummet and Whirlwind. Personally, I really don't like how they become dead cards if the opponent doesn't have a significant number of flying creatures. Whenever I see a green anti-air spell, it's always "okay, I won't main board this thing unless I'm in a standard environment where flyers have somewhat become staples" (which means basically never). Here is my solution:
Spirit Arrow 1G
Sorcery
Choose a creature you control. It deals damage to any target equal to its power. If the target is a creature with flying, this effect deals twice the amount of damage.
I think WotC have recently been allowing green to deal direct damage if the effect is reliant on creatures. The core idea here is that we will strap an anti-creature effect with a clause that makes it super effective against flyers, such that the card is still useful even if the opponent doesn't have a significant number of flyers. I definitely think Spirit Arrow is something I will mainboard.
Non-green Naturalize
As far as I can tell, Naturalize is close to a staple card in green decks when it comes to dealing with enchantments and artifacts. I am hoping to get cards that deal with enchantment and artifacts in colors other than green, but of course they won't be spot removals like Naturalize:
Disenchanter's Ring 1W
Enchantment
When this~ enters the battlefield, exile target enchantment or artifact until it leaves the battlefield.
Aetherchoke U
Instant
Put target enchantment or artifact on top of its owner's library.
Surging Greed 2B
Sorcery
Target opponent discards two cards. If no enchantment or artifact card is discarded this way, that player lose 4 life.
or
Voracious Edict B
Sorcery
Choose enchantment or artifact. Target opponent sacrifices a permanent of the chosen type.
Burning Aether 2R
Sorcery
Each enchantment and artifact deals damage to its controller equal to its converted mana cost unless its controller sacrifices it.
What do you guys think?
Choose one:
Target creature deals damage to target creature equal to its power.
Target creature deals damage to target flying creature equal to double its power.
I like the idea of a spell like this.
Disenchanter's Ring is totally fine. Aetherchoke would be fine, but not at this rate. Burning Aether could also be too cheap for its effect. I don't like Surging Greed. Colorpiewise it's okay, but it feels wrong to make such a card, as it PROMOTES playing artifacts and enchantments (If I play more of them, and I get targeted by this spell, maybe I won't have to lose life!). It's better against a deck that doesn't have artifact or enchantments. Voracious Edict is just a color pie break, so you'd probably need to find something else for Black.
Using flying hate as an example, a few things could happen if it's too mainboard-playable: fliers that don't grant immediate value, have spot removal protection, or death triggers that make them worth it could be pushed out of the format entirely; green might not need to splash into other colors, giving it an inherent boost over other colors like red, black, or white, which would normally supply the spot removal.
I think that a better alternative would be to give sideboard options like Plummet variants a little extra versatility. Nothing that would make it mainboard-playable, but something like cycling that lets you get value from it if it would otherwise be a dead card after sideboarding.
For formats that don't have sideboards, like Arena quickplay, I could see a rule that allows you to pick a number of cards in your deck (say, 10), and add Cycling 2 to them for the duration of the game. In a digital medium, it's perfectly doable, and it allows you to play more niche effects without being punished too hard for a bad matchup.
Surging Greed is ovepowered in the extreme, Compare to mind rot. IT isn't anti enchantment/artifact, either, because it makes WANT to play enchantments and artifacts.
Voracious edict and byrning Aether are color pie breaks.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn